tinychef acquires Zelish to add automated meal planning and to add mobile experience to its offering
Zelish has joined forces with tinychef to create a first-of-its-kind hands-free, voice-first AI-powered kitchen assistant app.
Zelish has joined forces with tinychef to create a first of its kind hands-free, voice-first AI-powered kitchen assistant app. With this acquisition, tinychef will have the consumer base and technology to break into the North American market and expand globally.
tinychef is the smart kitchen assistant built for every kitchen. It manages everything from generating recipe ideas, buying groceries, meal planning, cooking instructions and plating. Consumers can customize the experience by adding their preferences, including which smart device they would like it to connect with.
When conducting our initial research, we learned that people wanted a software comparable to Google Maps, but for cooking,” said Shete. “As a passionate cook and experienced entrepreneur, I decided to create the solution.
Zelish started two years ago, with a mission of integrating technology into the kitchen. “Cooking hardware is being updated constantly,” said Saakshi Jain, Co-Founder of Zelish. “There are smart ovens and fridges, but what about the software?” To answer this question, Zelish created a mobile app to help customers shop, plan, and cook. Users could simply input their food preferences and the number of people being served, and the app would generate a personalized meal plan and shopping cart using AI.
“Consumers loved using their phones to order food from restaurants, but when lockdown began people needed to learn how to cook and plan their meals themselves,” said Jain. “We wanted to give people the tools to teach them how to cook exciting meals, quickly and easily.”
After proving to be successful in the Indian market with over 1.5 million users, Shete enrolled tinychef (formerly known as Klovechef) in The Accelerator Program with the intention to expand into the North American market. AC product development mentor Steve Fyke recommended the company create a companion app to seamlessly connect tinychef to the user’s smart device. As Shete began planning the development of an AI assisted cooking app, he discovered Zelish.
“Our consumers agreed that the ordering groceries and meal planning on the app worked seamlessly, however, the cooking process was still challenging for them,” Jain explained. “They still needed to check their phone while trying to cook or pause and rewind the video to follow the recipe.”
As Shete and Jain began speaking, Jain realized that tinychef was solving the cooking dilemma in an extremely innovative way. Over 45% of Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices are kept in people’s kitchens, making a voice-assisted cooking app the perfect solution. By combining their teams and technologies, they have successfully launched a brand-new app under the tinychef name that’s compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and smartphones.
With this acquisition tinychef has the technological advantage and an engaged customer base. After dominating the market in India, they and can now work towards global expansion. Currently they are focused partnering with North American groceries stores like Sobeys and Walmart, so users can experience the tinychef journey from start to finish.
Say goodbye to the time consuming and stressful process of meal planning and grocery shopping by downloading the tinychef app! Experience the fun of cooking, while saving time, energy and money.